Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani has countered signals from the upcoming Joe Biden administration saying “the ball is in Washington’s court”. The president said during a televised cabinet speech on Wednesday if the new US government places a signature to implement commitments under the United...

CAIRO: Egypt has agreed to resume diplomatic relations with Qatar, the Egyptian foreign ministry said on a statement on Wednesday. "Arab Republic of Egypt and the state of Qatar has exchanged two official notes today, Jan. 20, according to which the two countries agreed to resume diplomatic...

Syria’s White Helmets, who rescue victims from the rubble of airstrikes, have added making personal protective equipment to their efforts saving lives in areas of the country outside Bashar al-Assad’s control. The civil defense service’s uniform-making unit has recently pivoted to...

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has spent much of his long career casting Israel's Arab minority as a potential fifth column, is now openly courting their support as he seeks reelection in the country's fourth vote in less than two years. Few Arabs are likely to heed his call,...

 A “tragic” shipwreck in the Mediterranean Sea off Libya's coast killed at least 43 migrants bound for Europe, the U.N. migration agency said Wednesday. The International Organization for Migration said the shipwreck that took place a day earlier was the first maritime disaster in 2021...

The Turkic Council on Wednesday marked the 31st anniversary of Black January, a violent crackdown on people in the Azerbaijani capital Baku during the dissolution of Soviet Union. "On the occasion of the Jan. 20, 1990 Baku massacre, known as the Black January, the Turkic Council...

Turkey is closely following developments in Iraq's Sinjar district, the Turkish defense minister said Wednesday, stressing that Ankara is ready to support clearing the region of terrorists. "Turkey is ready to provide support for eliminating terrorists in Iraq’s Sinjar region if needed,"...

Distribution of COVID-19 vaccines in the 92 least developed countries will not start before late March, health authorities said Tuesday.  While high and middle income countries are already undergoing vaccination, the least developed poor countries have not been able to receive the...

US Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell accused President Donald Trump on Tuesday of provoking rioters who stormed the Capitol building. "The mob was fed lies. They were provoked by the president and other powerful people," McConnell said on the Senate floor. "And they tried to use fear...

 Talks aimed at overcoming a years-long deadlock over disarmament at the United Nations began in acrimony on Tuesday with two countries blocking rivals from taking part in widely criticised manoeuvres that sparked concern about the forum's future. Iran blocked Saudi Arabia and the...

Qatar has suspended its case at the World Trade Organization against the United Arab Emirates over measures it said were designed to isolate Qatar economically. The suspension, announced in a document filed at the WTO on Tuesday, follows moves by Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt to...

Iraq's cabinet decided on Tuesday to postpone the general election to Oct. 10 from June, the state news agency INA said. The government last year set a general election for June 6, 2021, roughly a year ahead of when it would normally be held, but Iraq's Independent High Election Commission...

As President Donald Trump entered the final year of his term last January, the U.S. recorded its first confirmed case of COVID-19. Not to worry, Trump insisted, his administration had the virus “totally under control.” Now, in his final hours in office, after a year of presidential denials...

An explosion Tuesday in an oil tanker outside a state fuel distribution company in central Syria caused a massive fire, state media reported. It was not immediately clear what caused the explosion. Video aired by state news agency SANA showed huge plumes of smoke and high flames...

The Action Group for Palestinians of Syria  said more than 150,000 Palestinian refugees have fled Syria since 2011. The Britain-based monitoring group said Saturday that over 150,000 refugees fled war-torn Syria since the outbreak of the conflict in 2011, including 125,000 to...

The end of the Trump era has caused a collective but cautious sigh of relief in Iran. Some in the Gulf region feared that in the dying days of his presidency Donald Trump might choose to double down on his policy of "maximum pressure" on Iran and launch a military strike on its civilian...

ALEPPO, Syria — On the wall of a destroyed building in the countryside of Idlib, in northwest Syria, which is under the control of the Syrian opposition, Syrian artist Aziz Asmar painted a Saudi and Qatari shaking hands. At the top of the painting, Asmar wrote in English, “The blood can...

Turkish forces are redeploying gradually at military observation points they had pulled out from after they were besieged by Syrian regime forces in the de-escalation zone in northwestern Syria. On Monday, Turkish forces began establishing a new military post in Qastoun town in the Sahl...

Head of the Russia-Syria Joint Monitoring Centre Dmitry Suntsov announced on Monday the deployment of additional Russian military units to northeastern Syria. Suntsov confirmed that an additional Russian military police unit had been deployed to the city of Hasaka in northeastern Syria to...

AL-QAIM, Iraq (Reuters) - Iraq is tightening security along its 600 km (400 mile) border with Syria to curb the movement of Islamic State militants, drug smuggling and other illegal activities. Iraqi commanders on Monday toured the remote desert frontier controlled by various different...